XINJIANG DENIES REPORTS OF HUGE 'CONCENTRATION CAMPS'

Locations that had been marked as "concentration camps" by some Western media and an Australian institute are actually administration buildings, nursing homes, logistics centers or schools, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region claimed, the Beijing-funded Global Times reported.

Xinjiang offered videos and photos to debunk accusations which used satellite images as "pieces of evidence" to propagate the “concentration camps” story.

Western media and institutes, especially the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), have been keen on using satellite images as "evidence" for their claim of Xinjiang's expanding "concentration centers," a term that has been firmly opposed by Chinese authorities. In a report entitled "Documenting Xinjiang's Detention System" by ASPI, buildings with outer walls in Xinjiang were all considered as "detention centers."

"This is absurd. As a matter of fact, they are just civil institutions," Eljan Anayt, spokesperson of the Xinjiang regional government, told a press conference in responding to a question from CNN. "The 'detention center' of Turpan city mentioned in the report is actually a local administrative building; the 'detention center' of Kashi is, in fact, local high school buildings. They are all marked on Google Maps, Baidu Maps, and I have photos of them," the spokesperson said, showing photos of these locations at the press conference. Eljan said that those so-called "independent think tanks" like ASPI are not academic research centers, but anti-China tools manipulated by the US government.